CHILD PROTECTION
Community Initiatives reflect our commitment to social responsibility. They represent sustained effort by our Y to raise funds and awareness to deal with important community concerns.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
IMPACT:
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOUTH
AND CHILD SAFETY
The Hockomock Area YMCA serves over 30,000 members, more than half under the age of 18. We provide pre-school childcare at our three full facility branches, school age childcare at our full facility branches as well as offsite locations throughout our fifteen community service area, and nursery school in North Attleboro, Franklin, and Mansfield.
We are proud and respectful of the trust parents place in our YMCA. A safe environment for children combined with quality programming is an important part of our focus on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.
Our core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility are part of everything we do. We place great value on providing the most child-safe environment possible and creating an atmosphere where children grow and thrive.
CREATING A CHILD
SAFE ENVIRONMENT
We take the following steps to keep children in our programs safe:
- Detailed employment application forms.
- Comprehensive reference checks that include standardized questions that assess risk for abuse.
- Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check & Sexual Offender Registry Information (SORI) check.
- Statement of compliance with the Hockomock Area YMCA Code of Conduct and Abuse Prevention Policies. Please read our staff Code of Conduct. If someone is non-compliant, let us know immediately.
- All staff complete on-going, extensive Child Abuse Prevention Training Programs.
- Supervisors complete regular trainings to further promote a child safe environment.
- Staff and volunteers are mandated to report any suspected child abuse.
- Our Y follows and enforces 10 Child Safety Absolutes. Following them is critical in our role as child protectors.
- Staff are prohibited from working 1-on-1 with or contacting youth outside of the Y (including babysitting and social networking).
- Policies exist to ensure staff & volunteers are not alone with a child. All interaction between a staff and child must be observable and interruptible.
Employees who are trained in abuse prevention are more likely to understand their role as protector, to recognize the signs that abuse is occurring, and to report suspicious or inappropriate behaviors. Trained staff members are also less likely to place themselves in situations where they could be falsely accused.
INFORMATION ABOUT ABUSE
We want all children to be safe. Unfortunately child abuse does exist, taking on many forms.
Emotional: Threatening a child or using words that can hurt a child’s feelings and self-esteem, withholding love and support from a child.
Physical: Causing injuries to a child on purpose, such as bruises, burns, scars, broken bones, etc.
Sexual: Having sexual contact in any form with a child, including exposing, fondling, intercourse, pornography, or internet solicitation.
Neglect: Not providing children with enough food, clothing, shelter, medical care, hygiene, supervision, etc.
9 WARNING SIGNS OF CHILD ABUSE:
- Unkempt or malnourished appearance
- Unexplained bruises, welts, or burns
- Disturbed sleeping or eating patterns
- Abrupt changes in behavior, anxiety, clinging, aggressiveness, or withdrawal
- Sexually transmitted diseases and infections
- Discomfort with physical contact
- Fear of a certain person or place
- Fearfulness or depression
- Abuse of other children
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT ABUSE
- REGISTER for child abuse prevention training to learn more about protecting children, please email protectkids@hockymca.org.
- TALK regularly to your child about his or her experiences in YMCA programs, school, sports, and other activities.
- DROP IN on your child’s programs.
- TRUST your instincts. Don’t wait to tell us if something seems ‘strange.’ Speak up.
- Learn to recognize and WATCH for warning signs of abuse.
- REPORT if you suspect or witness child sexual abuse. This is a tool that will help keep children safe in our Y and in our community. Click here for the anonymous reporting form.
- LISTEN & WATCH for signs of your child receiving special attention that other children or teens are not receiving.
- Periodically ASK your child these questions:
- Is anyone scaring or threatening you?
- Is anyone asking you to keep secrets?
- Has anyone said anything to make you feel bad?
- Is anyone touching you in a way you do not like?
- EDUCATE your child about self-protection, including information about strangers and good and bad touches.
- LEARN to control the stress level of yourself and family members.
- COMMUNICATE with your child and really listen to their concerns.
- RECOGNIZE the fact that most abuse happens by people that children know and trust.
- BECOME AWARE of your community resources.
- KNOW where your children are and who their friends are.
- TEACH your children it’s not okay to keep secrets from you; that they can always tell you the truth.
CHILD SAFE RESOURCES
For reporting suspected child abuse or neglect in Massachusetts, call the Department of Children and Family Services:
- North Attleboro, Attleboro, Norton, and Mansfield. 508-821-7000
- Foxboro, Sharon, Plainville, Wrentham, and Norfolk. 781-641-8500
- Franklin, Bellingham, Medway, Milford, Millis, Hopedale, and Medway. 508-234-1000
After 5:00 p.m. and on weekends call the Judge Baker’s Children’s Center Child-at-Risk hotline at 1-800-792-5200.
OTHER COMMUNITY RESOURCES
PARENTAL STRESSLINE
A 24-hour hotline for support & guidance in Massachusetts. 1-800-632-8188
CHILDHELP’S NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE
1-800-4-AChild (1-800-422-4453)
NEW HOPE
A 24-hour domestic violence and sexual assault hotline. 1-800-323-4673
THE CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CENTER OF BRISTOL COUNTY
508-674-6111
NORFOLK ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN
1-508-543-0500
CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION MONTH
A Letter from our President, Jim Downs:
Dear Members,
The month of April is Child Abuse Prevention month, and youth serving organizations across the country engage in efforts to raise education and awareness around a topic that is far too often shrouded in secrecy and denial.
Every April, our Hockomock Area YMCA, along with YMCAs throughout Massachusetts, sponsor Five Days of Action for Child Abuse Prevention. Our Y shares information and resources on how to prevent, recognize and respond to situations that adults may encounter.
While we are placing a special emphasis on this topic during the month of April, child safety and child protection are our Y’s number one priority every single day of the year. In fact, the trust that parents and guardians place in us to take care of their children is our Y’s greatest asset. We work hard every day to earn that trust and will never take it for granted.
During Five Days of Action, and all year round, we share information and resources using a variety of media tools, such as Facebook & Twitter, Member E-blasts, our website, and at our member service desks.
For the past five years, our YMCA has proudly partnered and collaborated with school systems, municipalities and other human service organizations throughout our service area to help bring awareness, education and training regarding child sexual abuse to the forefront. We remain committed to this collaborative cause and to our effort to be part of a community-based prevention movement. Please join us.
I urge you to talk to your children regularly about their experiences at the Hockomock Area YMCA. Also, ask them about their teachers and instructors. If as a result there is ever a concern regarding the safety and protection of your child, please notify me immediately.
As responsible adults, we all have the opportunity to create a different path for children and to protect their only childhood. We are on this path together, let’s take a step to clear the way for a child.
Jim Downs
President, Hockomock Area YMCA
